Dropped off the TJ yesterday. Should be picking it up by the end of the day with the truetrac, SOLID cover, and new inner axle seals installed.

All I have left to get done is the front long arm, the engine skid, and the Genright tank. Should be ready to go after that.

Speaking of the long arms, 4wd.com sucks ***. I placed my order last Sunday, over a week ago, and after never receiving an email confirmation or a shipping notice, I called yesterday to see what the hell was going on. Even though the website said the order was placed, they never received the order. So after waiting a week for nothing, I had to place my order again. Hopefully they ship it out quick. I really want to get the long arms installed, I can't wait to go try this thing out.

Two of the three things I ordered from 4wd cane in today. Got my daystar replacements bushings and my rugged ridge steering box skid. For $41 it is actually a pretty good skid, I don't see any reason why anyone would buy a more expensive one.

Mocked up my engine skid today. The darn thing could not have fit any better, seriously. Its fits like it was designed for that skid, even though all I did was take some rough measurements with a tape measure. With the skid pushed all the way back against the RE skid, the oil drain hole lines up perfectly, and the front of the skid sits even with the motor mounts, which is what it will mount to (like a UCF skid). There are no clearance issues with the skid and the exhaust, and the only modification I need to make is trimming about two inches off the back of the skid. I made it longer than needed in case my measurements were off, which they weren't. Tomorrow I plan to make the front mounts and then get the skid painted and final installed. If I have time I'm also going to try to get the gas task installed.

Forgot to take any pictures afterwards, but I got my genright tank installed. Turns out it is actually the alien tank, which allows for 9" stretch. Dont need that much room, and the fuel capacity sucks, but it was cheap so who cares?

Install was a breeze. The tank is set up for an 03-04 model, mine is an '02. Only difference is that the filler hose is a different size. I just so happened to have a spare '04 tank sitting around that I could source one from. Other than that it was a simple matter of swapping the pump over from my old tank and then bolting up the new tank, reconnecting the lines, drilling 2 holes through the frame for the front mounts, and then bolting it down. It was pretty simple.

The skid weighs a TON though. Eventually Im going to drop it and have my friend that made my engine skid make me one out of aluminum. I have to buy a big sheet, but for around $230 I should have enough for an engine skid, tummy tucker, and GTS all out of 1/4" aluminum.

4wd.com sucks ***! I finally called to check on the super flex housing I ordered, and it turns out it won't be in stock until the middle of next month. They could have at least sent me an email or something to tell me! My coal creek trip is on the 12th of next month, so I just canceled the order. I called currie this morning and they had their replacement johnny joints for rubicon express arms in stock, so I went ahead and ordered a couple of those. Should have just done that a month ago I guess. I really wanted to avoid the extra $100 cost (plus shipping) of the johnny joints right now with all of the other money I'm having to spend getting it ready.

Right now I'm trying to get the stuff done that is necessary before taking it offroad. The gas tank took priority, and once I get my joints in from currie, the long arms will take priority. I'm planning on taking the jeep to URE on the 5th or 6th of next month, which gives me a week to get the front arms done. The engine skid will be done after that.

I was told when I called Currie that my joints would be here by Friday... It is now Monday and I STILL HAVE NO JOINTS!!! I really need them to get here tomorrow. I have the long arms ready to bolt in other than the joints I am waiting on. I am taking this thing to URE on the 5th and I would really like to have the long arms on by then so I can test everything out before Coal Creek.

I had today reserved to install the long arms. That didnt pan out, so I went ahead and knocked out the engine skid. It was actually a lot easier than I was expecting it to be, it was just time consuming. It took me about 5-6 hours, but a lot of that was head scratching and hole drilling. I forgot to take pictures before I pulled it down to paint it. I will upload pictures tomorrow after the final install. I do have a couple progress pics to upload though.

Only had one remaining rear upper long arm, so I decided to convert it into the front upper I was missing.

Turned out pretty good. I don't understand why the front uppers and rear uppers have different sized tubing and different length threads, but it worked so who cares?

I counter sunk the bolt holes where the engine skid mounts to the tranny skid so there wouldn't be anything to hang up on under there. Also trimmed about 3.5" off the back edge (I measured long initially in case my measurements were off, but they weren't) and trimmed one corner where it covered up one of the RE skid bolts. The entire transfer case skid and engine skid can be dropped as one unit with the arms still in place on the frame.

Note how I had to notch the edge on one side to clear the exhaust. If I left the skid running straight out from the tranny skid, it would have cleared the exhaust. However, I pushed the front of the skid up as high as it would go for more ground clearance, and it contacted the exhaust when doing so. Also note the wings that are folded out at the front. That is the mounting points for the front of the skid.